How the Science of Positive Psychology Will Revolutionize the Workplace
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects Capstones 1-10-2010 Happy at Work: How the Science of Positive Psychology Will Revolutionize the Workplace Daniel S. Bowling III University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone Part of the Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Human Resources Management Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legal Education Commons, and the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons Bowling III, Daniel S., "Happy at Work: How the Science of Positive Psychology Will Revolutionize the Workplace" (2010). Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects. 17. https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/17 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/17 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Happy at Work: How the Science of Positive Psychology Will Revolutionize the Workplace Abstract This capstone is a draft of a proposed book on positive psychology in the workplace, aimed at a popular audience. It contains a detailed table of contents and reference sources, as well as several complete or partially- complete chapters. It also includes an extended section on lawyers that will form the basis of a separate academic article. The book’s working title is Happy at Work: How the Science of Positive Psychology will Revolutionize the Workplace. Its thesis is that most modern human resources practices are misguided with an overreliance on process and metrics. Humans are treated as capital, and firms focus on their failings and weaknesses rather than their strengths. In a post-crash world such approaches are unsustainable, and positive psychology provides a new way of managing that will revolutionize the workplace. Unlike what many would believe, it is OK to be happy at work; in fact, we should be happy at work. High corporate performance requires happy employees, and the book links the science of positive psychology with its practical application to show how any company can increase happiness at work. Keywords Happiness, employment, work, law, lawyers, law school, positive psychology, human resources Disciplines Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Human Resources Management | Law and Society | Legal Education | Organizational Behavior and Theory This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/17 Happy at Work Happy at Work: How the Science of Positive Psychology Will Revolutionize the Workplace Daniel S. Bowling, III University of Pennsylvania A Capstone Project Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Positive Psychology Advisor: Christopher Peterson, PhD August 28, 2009 1 Happy at Work CAPSTONE ABSTRACT This capstone is a draft of a proposed book on positive psychology in the workplace, aimed at a popular audience. It contains a detailed table of contents and reference sources, as well as several complete or partially- complete chapters. It also includes an extended section on lawyers that will form the basis of a separate academic article. The book’s working title is Happy at Work: How the Science of Positive Psychology will Revolutionize the Workplace. Its thesis is that most modern human resources practices are misguided with an overreliance on process and metrics. Humans are treated as capital, and firms focus on their failings and weaknesses rather than their strengths. In a post-crash world such approaches are unsustainable, and positive psychology provides a new way of managing that will revolutionize the workplace. Unlike what many would believe, it is OK to be happy at work; in fact, we should be happy at work. High corporate performance requires happy employees, and the book links the science of positive psychology with its practical application to show how any company can increase happiness at work. 2 Happy at Work PREFACE " Why is it 95% of our programs and initiatives are focused on the 5% of employees who hate us? Why spend our precious resources and energies on the perpetually dissatisfied few? Why not focus on efforts on those who want to build a better company and believe we can?" The 500 senior Coca-Cola executives in the big concrete hall sat still and silent, maybe a tad uncomfortable. It was 2001 and this was my first presentation as the newly appointed head of human resources for Coca-Cola Enterprises. After a day of feel-good business recaps and a smattering of newly produced Coke commercials, they were ready for cocktails more than questions. Particularly from me. Only weeks before, I had been pulled without warning from a major operating role and named to the position by a new CEO who believed in the power of optimism and hope. "Put People First" was his mantra, and he wanted a "people person" to revamp the human resources strategy of the company. He decided I fit that description, and although I felt qualified by neither training nor experience to develop the employment practices of a work force of almost 90,000 people, I knew by rediscovering the positive energy of the people behind the Coke brand we would be successful. My words to the Coca-Cola executives that day were prompted by what I found when I took over the human resources function. The organization was down. We were under legal assault by small groups of hostile employees. Rather than aggressively defending them, our programs and energies were almost entirely focused on an agonized self-examination of what we did to prompt such claims, and how we could devise purportedly foolproof systems to prevent anticipated future grievances. The halls were full of consultants and lawyers and days were consumed by task forces, all focused on what was "wrong" with us and how we could treat it. 3 Happy at Work Not surprisingly, our disease was metastasizing, and corporate maladies theretofore unknown were being discovered and stern remedies subscribed. Managers and employees forgot about selling Coke and spent their time instead in a variety of “workshops,” the corporate equivalent of Mao's re-education camps. Needless to say, morale and sales were depressed. Quickly, I learned that the vast majority of the employee grievances were brought by a handful of perpetually complaining employees, often sponsored by outside interest groups, and were generally unfounded. I also found that virtually all of our rank and file employees believed the complaints were unfounded and were quite happy with us as an employer. They realized, as a few of us did, that the complainers were not interested in improving the company, like dime store Marxists they wanted to bend it to their will, or destroy it in the process. Within a week on the job I had fired the consultants and disbanded the task forces. The entire human resources plan was scrapped. I turned over most of my staff. The doom and gloomers were asked to leave because we were embarking on a different course and only believers were invited to come along. From that point forward, all of our energy, plans, and resources were focused on identifying those who wanted to make us better and developing their skills and careers. People of optimism and hope, focused on strength, not weakness. True leaders. I was fortunate to be imprinted as a child with a positive life philosophy by my Father. He was the most optimistic person I ever met, never down, although life tested him. He lost both parents as a child and was raised by a poor aunt and her alcoholic husband. He was unjustly fired from a corporate position (as a court later determined) when he turned 50 and worked hard to send his children to top private institutions. At 70, while in seemingly perfect health, he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and died nine months later. At no juncture or 4 Happy at Work test did did he give up, nor lose his sense of humor and belief that the future held great promise. All around him were better for it. All were given strength in their own lives by exposure to the power of his philosophy. I saw in my own personal development, and the lives of everyone he knew, how profound an impact one person who speaks of hope and optimism can have. A leader in an organization can have the same impact. Seeding the workforce with such individuals makes for a happier organization, and research shows that organizations with positive employee engagement outperform those that do not. A leader need not be the best tactician, know the most about the technical aspects of the job, or be the most gifted boardroom maneuveror to be able to inspire others to perform at their peak. But he or she must have a positive core, because only a positive, hopeful leader can inspire great performance in others on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily a majority view in the American workplace. At Coca-Cola Enterprises, it almost cost me my job. Although our plan worked, and employee survey results - as well as sales - improved during the five years I was in the job (making me the longest tenured head of HR in the history of CCE), I had made more than a few enemies, as had our CEO. There are powerful corporate institutions invested in negativity, dysfunction and costly cures, and they challenged us at every turn. Why? Because if employees are happy and conflicts are few, the lawyers and the consultants make less money, corporate “task forces” are and special interest groups are disbanded, and the professional grievance handlers are out of work. Challenges to power in the corporate world unleash dark forces, and our experience at CCE was no different.